German Language, Literature, and Culture
Degrees Offered: Minor, B.A.
Why Study German?
Knowledge of German gives students improved qualifications in fields as diverse as arts, media, sciences, research, technology and the humanities.
Take a campus tour with German major Charlotte Ebel ’25, Student Athlete, University Scholar, and triple major in Women’s and Gender Studies; German Language, Literature, and Culture; and Communication Studies.
- German is one of the official languages of the EU
- 42 million Americans can trace their ancestry to Germany
- Germany is the most important trading partner for almost all European and many non-European partners
- Knowledge of German will give you a better chance when applying to graduate schools
- Read Goethe’s “Faust”, listen to Bach and Schubert, watch movies like “Live of the Others,” all in the original language.
- German is one of the most commonly used languages after English on the internet
- German companies account for 800,000 jobs in the US. Knowing German gives you an advantage for careers in:
- Business, Communication Studies, European Literature, History, International Relations, Journalism, Linguistics, Literature, Music, Psychology, Publishing, Sociology, and Sciences
German Placement Exam
If you have studied German either formally or informally, lived in a German-speaking country, or grown up in a German-speaking household, you must take a placement exam before being allowed to register for any GER course. To access the German exam, please go to MySlice. If you have any questions, please contact Professor Karina von Tippelskirch.
Kade Student Travel Awards
Download the PDF application for the Kade Student Travel Award.
German Major and Minor
The German Major and Minor
Students are admitted into the major through departmental approval and should consult the German Program Coordinator about their major as early as possible so that they may be sure to satisfy prerequisites and requirements within four years.
The Major
A Major in German requires a minimum of 27 credits beginning with GER 202 and above. Refer to the Course Catalog for specific major requirements.
The Minor
The German Minor requires at least 18 credits; 12 of the credits have to be taken at the 300 level or above. Refer to the Course Catalog for specific minor requirements.
Classes
Refer to the Course Catalog for a list of classes.
Faculty
Mona Eikel-Pohen
Associate Teaching Professor, German; Modern Foreign Language Coordinator
Email: meikelpo@syr.edu
Eleanor Homolko
Part-Time Instructor, German
Email: emhomolk@syr.edu
Karina von Tippelskirch
Associate Professor, German, and German Program Coordinator
Email: kvontipp@syr.edu
Phone: 315.443.5383
German Resources
Zeitungen
Süddeutsche Zeitung: one of the biggest German daily newspapers
Jetzt-Online: youth magazine of Sueddeutsche Zeitung; weekly
Die Zeit: weekly paper covering both politics and culture
Hamburger Morgenpost: daily paper
Bild: German daily tabloid paper
taz: Berlin daily paper (website has only textversions of articles)
Die Neue Zürcher Zeitung: one of Switzerland's biggest daily papers
News: Austrian tabloid paper
Der Standard: Austrian daily paper
Magazine
Der Spiegel: THE German political magazine
Focus: Spiegel's opponent, easier to read
Stern: comparable to People's magazine
Bunte: similar to Stern
Cosmopolitan
Max: German lifestyle magazine
Vogue Deutschland
Elle Deutschland
Sport-Bild: sports tabloid
Der Kicker German soccer magazine
Politik und Regierung
Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Geschichtsüberblick
Auswärtiges Amt: German foreign ministry
Info über Deutschland: page by the German government, has lots of different information about Germany
German government
Austrian government: with lots of info about Austria and its people
Swiss parliament
Texte
Projekt Gutenberg: full text database of a vast variety of German authors
Märchen offers several German fairy tales as mp3s
Amazon The German site of Amazon
Städte
Berlin
Hamburg
Frankfurt/Main
München
Köln
Salzburg
Innsbruck
Wien
Bern
Zermatt
Universitäten:
In Deutschland:
FU-BEST,Freie Universitat-Berlin European Studies, SU World Partner Abroad
In Österreich:
Uni Innsbruck
Uni Salzburg
Uni Wien
Link zum Goethe-Institut
Nachrichten
Die Tagesschau (ARD)
Heute-Nachrichten (ZDF)
Deutsche Welle
Scola: SU students can access Scola through the SU Library and use Scola world TV and language learning tools free of charge.
Filme
Info about movies in the theater
Der Herr der Ringe (Lord of the Rings)
Good Bye Lenin
Lola rennt (Run Lola Run)
Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (The princess and the warrior)
Film Portal
Deutsches Fernsehen
ARD
ZDF
Sat1
RTL
Pro Sieben
Online-Wörterbücher
LEO An easy to use online-dictionary that provides good results
Dictionary.com You get a list of dictionaries when you click on 'German'
Pons-Online-Wörterbuch Here you will also find technical vocabulary lists (look at the links above the dictionary!)
Idiomatische Redewendungen A bis K A resource of idioms
Idiomatische Redewendungen L bis Z The second part of the above
http://germanyinusa.tumblr.com German Tumbler